Customer Reviews

Donna Summer: Her Life and Music

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Hmmmm.... This book was interesting. I picked this up only after reading Donna's book first, and then reading some of the other user reviews on this site. I got it cheap, and I must say I enjoyed it, flaws and all. It's no doubt entertaining, as I read it in just a day and a half. It's a very comfortable read. However, at times it seems like little more than a smear on Donna Summer rather than an unbiased, well researched chronicle of her life and career. While there are many revelations here that she did not make in her own book, some of the things he says seem based solely on his own opinion. His claim that she was never really accepted by blacks (particularly all the comments about the "On The Radio" album cover photos) seem like opinion stated as fact. I know plenty of black folks, young, old, straight and gay, who like her. His claim that the album cover has been feverishly discussed was not backed up at all. I'm black, and I've never heard such talk! I really liked the information about her early singles and the photos of those early picture sleeves... he definitely did his homework in some areas. Some of the quotes and things he pulls out of the cut directly contradict some things she said in her book (in this respect, you can tell he's a journalist). His whole account of the "Enough is Enough" sessions is extremely interesting. But at other times he does not seem to like his subject a whole hell of a lot. He constantly criticizes her appearance. He dogs her hair, make-up and costumes, and even dogs the photos from the "Live and More" LP jacket. I mean come on... even a passing pop music fan identifies Donna Summer with that photo of her singing, eyes closed and head tilted back. I always thought the album was nicely packaged with great pictures, but the brother is entitled to his opinion I guess. I also thought his account of her fallout with gays was very biased, seemingly calling her honesty into question. It's obvious he thinks she made the remarks denouncing gays based on the articles he chose to cite throughout that chapter. I guess I'm looking at it from a journalistic standpoint, but the book is just not very balanced at all. In his defense, I found the photos in this book more interesting than the ones in her's, and the discography and TV appearance sections were worlds better than that pitiful discography in Donna's autobiography. However, much of the book is poorly edited... I had to resist the temptation to take out my red pen and mark it up. But overall, it's pretty entertaining, light reading. You'll find out some things you didn't know, and if nothing else it's a nice bookend to Donna's less revealing "Ordinary Girl."

Being a huge Donna Summer fan for most of my life...I was eager...yet skeptical...to read this book on her life and music. Unfortunately..without the cooperation of some key people involved in Donna's career...including the Diva herself...the book falls way short of giving any real insight into most topics covered (especially the ones fans really want to know about). Due to this lack of real information..the author spends way to much time simply reviewing Donna's albums...videos...photographs. Many of his opinions are valid...though a few of them ring pretty absurd. In spite of all the shortcomings, this should have been a simple fun ride through memory lane for Donna's large following. However..near the end of the book the author make a huge mistake in his timeline of events which totally disqualifies the validity of this entire book. If you can't get the dates correct in a biography....well....none of it really matters. Because of this glaring goof...I have to give this book one star.

Perhaps having been a fan of Donna Summer's for 25 years and having met her twice now, the information provided has revealed nothing new in this book. One major feeling generated though was how determined and driven she was to be heard and how creative she was to reach millions a whole decade before Madonna. The last few chapters seemed to condense the recent past two decades cheating the readers of how much Donna Summers' voice and music has grown and how it continues to get stronger and better like a fine wine over time. The major criticism is the authors subjective opinions and attack on Donna Summer's image and physical appearance as well as her appearance in print, film/television,and album covers. I felt it inappropriate and offensive to it's readers and fans. I know Donna's fans young and mature look forward to her own story due out later this year...perhaps readers should wait for that book than waste money on such a limited read.

I'm not a Donna Summer collector or expert, but as a general pop music fan, I've been waiting to read something which gives her proper historical due and delves into more of the music than just the biggest disco hits. This book gave me a lot of the information and analysis I wanted. It's true that the author didn't have access to Donna Summer herself, but the book does include the fruits of his interview with super-producer Giorgio Moroder, as well as other arrangers and musicians she worked with. Parts of the book are certainly critical of Summer, but it is not, on balance, negative about her life or career. If you are a fan who worships the ground that Donna Summer walks on, then this book will indeed disappoint you. However, if you want a solid account of her life and career, peppered with one author's opinions about both her successes and failures, this is the source. There hasn't been a book on Summer in 20 years, and her own book is unlikely to cover a lot of the same ground -- particularly the details on her recordings -- so Donna Summer: Her Life and Music nicely fills the information gap.

I'm a straight white girl who's always loved Donna's voice and wanted to know more about her. This book thoroughly satisfied my curiosity. The story of her rise to fame and her life as a star is laid out simply and refreshingly. It's deepened my interest in Donna and confirmed my reasons for loving her. It's a quick read, easy and bright, perfect for the beach.

This book contains hundreds of sentences, hundreds of paragraphs, and whole chapters of nothing but the author's unfounded opinions. (I have my own opinions, and I didn't need to read all of his.)
In some places, on some pages, this book acted like a well-documented biography that quoted actual sources - published sources, interviews with pertinent people, but in the majority of it, it just repeated the author's opinions as facts - and fortunately, I am intelligent to recognize that kind of baloney when I see it.

The author also engages in a whole heap of unfounded slamming of Ms. Summer - putting together nasty statements about her for no reason at all. He also spends a greatly excessive amount of verbage discussing the covers (and other photographs) for Ms. Summer's albums, etc., - for no reason at all except that it gives the author more opportunities to take cheap shots at Ms. Summer.

For example, he goes on and on about how on the cover of an album ("On the Radio"), Ms. Summer is made out to look like a "white woman". Not only is that dirty mud-slinging, but it is also unscientific, since almost all people - white, black, Asian, American Indian, etc., have skin color that changes over the months of the year, and from year to year, depending on how much sunshine that they have been exposed to. (I happen to know Asian Indians who have lived in the United States for a number of year, but then they went back to India for a couple of months in the summertime. They exclaimed, "We can't believe how dark we got while we were in India." There are plenty of more examples.)

Also, much of the text in this book seems to have been written by a college freshman, or lower, rather than a supposed graduate of the New York University. For example, unnecessary hyperboles are used all the time. For a more specific example, rather then describing something as being "large", they author expressed himself by "massive" or "humongous". (If this book had been written a few years later, he would have written "gignormous".) Furerthmore, lots of unnecessary and obscure jargon is used, such as "mixed down". What does that mean?

All in all, this book strikes me as being quite amateurishly written, and I am quite surprised that his editors and his publishers allowed this book to be printed and published without a great deal of rewriting first. Actually, he needed to be told to "go back to the drawing board", do a lot more research, and to carry out a lot of interviews before they would consider publishing it. This book might have rated an "B" as a freshman English composition or music course term paper, but it certainly is not a professionally-written biography.

DAW

If you are a new Donna Summer fan, then this book is great at getting you acquainted with Donna, learning all about the highlights of her wonderful career and has a decent discography to help you get out there and start buying up all her music. I would also add, don't believe everything you read. Since this is an unauthorized biography, I tend to feel some of the material is inaccurate. For those of us who are EXTREME fans who worship this DIVA and are always clammoring for more and better....I am sad to say I read it once, was bored with the pictures I've seen over and over again and haven't picked it up since. The cover photo is nice and is displayed in my home for others to notice. I feel like the book is a compilation of clippings, articles, photos, etc. of items I already have in my collection. I feel like I could have written the book myself! I'm more excited about HER book coming out this fall: Ordinary Girl: A Memoir I'm hoping and praying I will finally get what I want. In any case, I didn't mind paying for the book 'Her Life and Music' because it is one more mandatory addition to my huge Donna Collection. Thanks, but try again.

This is a very superficial treatment - tapdancing on the footlights of Diva Donna's illustrious and remarkable career. There's, however, not very many other comprehensive sources out there for comparison. The only other book in English about Donna is even worse and so-o-o-o-o poorly written - ... The only saving factor is that it comes in hardback! The author's inability to get a personal interview with the diva manifests itself in his wry comments, and uninspired spiels of Donna's, mostly, disappointng shortcomings. I agree that her "Live and More" album was, perhaps, her best release ever, and the public agrees with that based on immense sales, but her many other brilliant releases are far from chopped liver. Borrow a copy if you must read it, it's realy not worth the paper it's printed on. What's even worse, is that I splurged on a pre-release copy, and then, an author's signed copy for about five times the price it's being offered here at Amazon. It's very light reading that merely dusts the surface of the diva's illustrious career. What this book doesn't have is "passion," which the diva has just an overwhelming amount of. I can't wait for her autobiography to be released.

Having known Donna since teaching her children in preschool through high school age, I am appalled at what is written here. IF you are interested in Donna's life then read Ordinary Life and leave it at that. Donna truly is one of the sweetest people in "celebrity life" that I have encountered. And its really upsets me when these kinds of books are written as a informational book. SAVE your money!!

i thought the book was very well researched,i was impressed by the early rock n roll band stuff i didnt know Donna did(and im a big fan since the beginning!)i was completely SATISFIED by the uncovering of the "gay scandal" stuff...all in all i COULDNT put this book down!it left me wanting to know MORE, MORE, MORE about Donna the woman, mother, and wife...HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!